Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Warriors Orochi 2 has the two worlds of Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors colliding to save the entire world from the evil Serpent King Orochi after the world slides back into chaos, a month after originally defeating the Serpent King. The warriors must team up again and fight back to save the world.
What’s Hot
Crossover games are rare in the video game industry. While it isn’t a huge stretch to think that Warlords and Samurai would team up to fight a Serpent King, it is cool to see all the fighters of Dynasty Warrior fighting alongside their Samurai Warrior counterparts. The sheer number of fighters to choose from is absolutely staggering.
As always, co-op is the best part of Orochi 2. Getting a friend and slaying the legions of evil never grows old. The RPG elements of collecting new weapons and automatic leveling add some customizable depth but nothing that overwhelms or overshadows the large scale battles that take front stage.
Orochi 2 shows off some new gameplay elements not seen in either Dynasty or Samurai Warrior games and will be a welcome change for hardcore fans of the series. One change is that you pick a team of three warriors that are interchangeable on the fly. Having that option to adjust your character as the battle conditions call for is a life saver. Another change is a special attack that you can incorporate with existing combo chains to add to your devastating attacks.
What’s Not
Orochi 2 isn’t the best Warriors game out there. In fact, it doesn’t seem as polished at Dynasty Warriors 6 which released early this year. While some slowdown problems were addressed with a software patch, it doesn’t help the look of the abysmal environments. Even the presentation of the game isn’t at the same level as other Warrior titles.
Character balance is way out of whack this time around and you’ll quickly discover that some warriors are horrible and some are unnaturally good. It all comes down to how choppy the animation resets when the character is done executing a combo. Those split seconds are vital and some warriors waste those critical moments.
Orochi 2 exposes many problems with the Warriors formula because of what seems like a lack of care. Even with the gameplay changes, the entire system feels old and in badly need of a face-lift to put some life back into the games. The excitement of being a powerful warrior single handedly turning the tides of battles doesn’t last long and the game gets stale.
Final Word
I have often been able to overlook the faults of the Warriors franchises but with Orochi 2, it is hard to focus on the adrenaline fueled action. Orochi 2 broke the chain of tiny improvements and took three giant steps backwards. Dyed in the wool Warriors fans will not even find this game a worthy entry into the series. Look to past games in the Warriors family if you want get your ancient battle fix.
